the cat came back
by basedfran
Summary: When their cat gets pregnant by what seems to be a stray, Fuuta starts preparing to take care of seven (seven!) cats all on their own. They never expect to begin receiving cat related gifts, each one labeled the same way: Child Support. Or, Fuuta's quest to find their kittens' other grandparent. LGBT characters. Possible OOC. Rated for language. Attempts at comedy. No Mafia AU.
1. Chapter 1

There's a maine coon that's been prowling around Fuuta's neighborhood.

A sandy brown one with fur that has not a knot or mat in sight, fluffy strands giving its body beautiful volume. It looks elegant, powerful as it prowls around the streets, a miniature lion carrying its head up high. It patrols around the nearby houses relaxed but aware of its surroundings, its copper eyes sharp and filled with an unnatural level of intelligence as it surveys the area.

It's a big, intimidating cat even considering the breed but not aggressive in any way. In fact, Fuuta knows the cat to be quite friendly, especially with their own cat, Natsu.

Natsu became Fuuta's responsibility after their brother moved overseas for work, and though they adore her with all their heart, they're pretty sure she's the wimpiest cat in the world. The sweetest thing ever, but a giant coward all the same.

She's a tiny orange tabby with big brown eyes that likes to cuddle and nap and hide in hampers. Her fur is also voluminous, but with her large eyes and the way the strands flare out wildly, she looks more like Kuriboh than an elegant lion. An awkward, frumpy looking thing, she cowers at everything. Fuuta's seen her take off running when a bird flapped its wings a little too close to her.

Though Natsu is nothing impressive, the maine coon seems to have taken a liking to her. It drops into their yard every day to spend the morning with her, letting out a gentle mewl upon arrival so she isn't spooked when it comes to nuzzle against her. Together they'll catch butterflies (usually ending with Natsu tumbling face first into the grass) and lay in the sun's warmth, their tails intertwining as they lay pressed together until one of the kids (usually Fuuta) calls Natsu back inside on their way to school.

Fuuta's younger siblings, Lambo and I-Pin, adored watching this love grow, cooing every time the maine coon appeared in their yard. They even asked about giving the cat a place to stay at their home, but Fuuta couldn't allow that. They weren't sure of the cat's sex or if Natsu was spayed (their older brother didn't seem like the type to think about that), so they didn't want to risk having to deal with kittens. Knowing their luck, their siblings or they themself would get attached and they'd end up with a few too many pets.

Imagine the dread they feel when they begin to notice Natsu's stomach swelling up after Lambo forgot to bring her back in when he was late for school one day.

* * *

The kittens are adorable and have the softest fur and the sweetest little squeals the Sawada siblings have ever heard. They are all immediately enamoured by the tiny creatures and Fuuta is losing their mind because there's _six_ of them and how on earth are they going to take care of six kittens _and_ Natsu?

When Lambo and I-Pin beg them to let them show the kittens to their father, they decide to put off thinking about it until they can talk to their mother or brother about it (their mother currently away on honeymoon with their father) and prepares to supervise this meeting.

Fuuta is a little worried when the maine coon hops up onto their fence from the neighbor's yard, right on time for his daily date with Natsu. Natsu and the kittens lay on a pile of soft blankets inside their living room just beyond the open sliding door leading into their yard, tiny and weak and vulnerable if the father decides to reject them. Fuuta motions for Lambo and I-Pin (sitting in a corner farther away from the action) to stay completely still as the cat drops down from the stone fence and walks right into their home as if he owns the place.

Natsu lifts her head slightly in acknowledgement and he gently butts their foreheads together, allowing Fuuta to release a breath they hadn't realized they were holding in.

Then the cat turns to the kittens and Fuuta's heart stills once more.

Copper eyes scan the little balls of fur. His head dips down to take in their scent. He pauses.

Then he starts giving each of them gentle kisses.

Lambo and I-Pin coo from their corner, pulling each other into a tight embrace as they tear up over the scene. Fuuta lets a smile spread across their face upon seeing it, warmth filling their chest.

Then the cat turns around and walks straight out the house, suddenly not wanting to spend a second more with his kittens. Fuuta's jaw drops as he climbs onto the fence and drops into the neighbor's yard without sparing another glance back.

" _Deadbeat!_ " they shout after him without thinking, offended on Natsu's behalf as she's just lying in her blankets, not realizing her and her children have been abandoned.

Lambo and I-Pin, coming down from their initial shock, lose their minds laughing at their outburst, making Fuuta's cheeks and ears burn.

* * *

The next day Fuuta stumbles on their way out the front door, their foot fumbling over something that isn't supposed to be there. They take a few steps forward and manage to catch themself before they can spill face first onto the pavement. After they're steady, they whip around to see what tripped them, ready to kill Lambo if it's yet another online purchase.

Their anger is quickly extinguished when they see two bags of dry cat food, one specifically for kittens.

They walk up to inspect them and notice a note taped to one of the bags. It's composed of two simple words:

 _Child support._


	2. Chapter 2

Fran lets his cat roam around outside unsupervised.

Maybe that's negligent, but it's not like Fran hasn't thought about the dangers. There are three main things that a pet owner worries about when letting their pets outside: _What if they run into trouble?_ , _What about cars?_ , and _What if they accidentally have babies?_.

Fran's seen the effect his cat has on other creatures and he's sure there isn't an animal (or even a human) that has the balls to pick a fight with it, crossing the first worry right out. Cars _would_ be an issue if it was the dog, but the cat knows how to look both ways before crossing and even then he prefers to walk on top of the fences rather than the streets or sidewalks. Meaning the second worry is out as well.

The idea of his cat having unplanned kittens, however, has never been an issue.

Fran's seen his cat around male and female cats alike, and he's never gone farther than brushing their cheeks together. Even when the neighbor's cat in Italy - a siamese, absolutely gorgeous coat and eyes - was in heat he barely paid her any mind as she meowed incessantly for him, deciding to chase birds while he waited for her to quiet down.

His cat has never shown any interest in mating, so why worry about kittens that will never exist?

* * *

Fran is outside playing tug-o'-war with the dog when his cat jumps back into their yard after visiting the neighbors' for a minute.

The dog wins when a loud _Deadbeat!_ from the other side of the fence makes Fran lose his focus.

He blinks towards the fence his cat just crossed over, blindly stroking the cat's fur as he comes over to rub against Fran's side.

' _Are they fighting over there?_ ' Fran wonders as he lifts himself to his feet. From what his guardians told him when they gave him the keys to the house, there's only three people living in the house next door at the moment, and they're all siblings with a pair of lovey-dovey parents that are currently on honeymoon. They shouldn't be having any domestic drama.

Fran presses himself against the fence and slowly peeks over, trying to catch a glimpse at what's going on. He knows it's rude to spy on people, but frankly, Fran's a nosy bitch. Plus he figures if something's really wrong someone should be there as a witness.

When he peeks over the fence, though, he sees two of his neighbors (the younger ones, still high school brats if he's remembering right) lying on the floor in their living room, laughing their asses off. The third neighbor has their back towards him, but he can see their ears burning bright red as they grumble something under their breath. They're crouched next to a bundle of blankets, fussing with something Fran can't see that clearly.

Fran carefully lifts himself up, carefully craning his neck to look at what they're fiddling around with. He has to pull himself up until his hips are pressed against the top edge of the fence, but eventually he sees them. A cat lying in the pile of downy sheets, six smaller fluff balls nestled against its stomach.

Oh.

Fran hops down from the fence before he's spotted, whirling around to look at his cat (who's rolling around in the grass without a care in the world). " _You're_ the deadbeat." Fran says as he snatches the cat up to look it in the eyes, nose wrinkling when the stupid thing starts to purr. "This is a punishment carry, stupid cat."

He tucks the cat under his arm, letting out a small sigh when he starts nuzzling into his side, and makes his way towards the house, the dog following at his heels.

"Who's going to take responsibility for this?" he asks as soon as they're inside, carelessly chucking the cat to the floor. He bends down to lock the pet door before starting the manhunt for his keys and wallet.

The cat lets out a sweet _Meow._ as he saunters over to the kitchen to see if his food bowl has magically refilled since he last ate an hour ago. Fran blinks at him, hoping he can feel his disdain.

"That's right. Me." he says, flipping over some cushions and fishing his keys and wallet out from inside the couch. He shoves them into his back pockets and sends another hard blink the cat's way when he walks up with his food bowl in his mouth. "Can you focus on something besides food for a second, you chubby bastard? You're a father now, get your priorities straight."

The cat's cries of starvation follow Fran as he walks out the house, looking up Japanese kitten food brands on his phone as he makes his way into town.

* * *

Fran drops off two bags of cat food on the neighbors' door step on his way to work.

It's around 4:35 in the morning. The sun is still sleeping, and the neighbors' porchlight is in dire need of a new bulb. He squints and struggles as he duct tapes a sheet of printer paper onto one of the bags, having to bite the tape free from the roll because he forgot his scissors at home.

It takes a while, but he finally secures the paper and whips out a permanent marker. Quickly, because after all this struggle he's running a bit late to help his boss open up shop, he scrawls two words on the paper:

 _Child support._


	3. Chapter 3

" _-could you let_ _Lambo_ _be responsible for her?_ "

Fuuta sighs, ears ringing even though they knew to hold the phone farther away when they finally broke the news to Tsuna. Cautiously, they pull the phone closer and try to cut into their brother's panicked babbling.

"He wasn't really _responsible_ for her. I just asked him to bring her back in before he left for school because I was in a hurry." Fuuta explains, shooting daggers at their younger brother as lounges on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table as he watches TV and ignores the problem he's caused.

Fuuta kicks at his legs, forcing his feet to the floor. "I guess he's not responsible enough to do even that." they say, locking eyes with their baby brother, their gaze burning.

"I said sorry!" Lambo whines, standing up and walking over to the corner of the room that's become a nest of blankets and pillows for Natsu and her babies (lovingly dubbed 'Kitten Corner' by Lambo and I-Pin). He kneels down and gestures to the kittens, now four weeks old and wobbling about. "Look how cute they are. My mistake is a _good_ thing."

The eldest kitten, a baby boy with his dad's beautiful fur and his mom's lack of elegance, trills softly at Fuuta as if on cue. Fuuta clicks their tongue and glares at Lambo before turning around, trying their best to stay mad at him.

They hear their brother sigh on the other end. They can practically see him bent over at his desk at the office, running a hand through his untameable hair. " _I knew I should've brought Natsu to live with me._ "

"I-Pin and I take really good care of her all the time! This is just one little oopsie, don't start trying to take our custody rights over it."

" _Six_ _kittens are 'one little oopsie'?_ "

"Hey, _you're_ the one that didn't remember to get Natsu spayed!" Fuuta reminds him, following their family's tradition of pinning the blame on someone else. "...And, well, they _are_ cute... You got the picture I sent, right?"

" _...Yeah, they_ _are_ _cute..._ " Tsuna sighs again and Fuuta knows they've got him. " _Alright, I guess the house is big enough for them and I highly doubt mom would mind... Do you need me to send more cat funds?_ "

"Uh, no, actually, I think we're good for right now." Fuuta's eyes trail over to the side table by the door. A small pile of printer paper sits on it, each one having the words ' _Child Support_ ' written on them in messy scrawl. "We've actually been getting, um, child support? From the dad's family."

" _You said the dad's a stray though?_ "

"I said I _thought_ the dad was a stray." Fuuta clarifies. "But we've been getting these little care packages every couple days for a few weeks now. Food and toys and stuff for both Natsu and the kittens. I'm thinking the dad belongs to one of the nearby houses."

" _You've been getting stuff from them and you don't know who it is yet? How do you even know it's from the dad's family?_ "

"They always come with a note. 'Child support' it always says." Fuuta blushes a bit. "I think they may be teasing me. I, uh, called the dad a deadbeat when he walked off. That's why they have to be nearby; they must've heard me screaming at their cat."

" _Huh..._ " Fuuta can hear Tsuna clicking his pen, thinking something over. " _And you haven't seen them while they're dropping something off?_ "

"No. I tried to stay up, but it doesn't seem like they come at night. They must be coming very early in the morning, even I haven't been able to wake up in time to catch them. I went to sleep really early the other day and woke up at 5 to see it was already there."

" _God, who wakes up before 5? And I thought_ _you_ _weren't human..._ " Tsuna's voice trails off, but Fuuta can still hear his pen clicking like crazy. " _You should try and figure out who they are._ "

"I've been asking around." Fuuta says, walking into the kitchen to boil water for some tea. "I know we'll have to thank them eventually."

" _It's not just that. What if they suddenly decide they want one of the kittens a couple weeks from now? You need to make sure this mystery family doesn't want any of them before the kids get attached._ "

"The kids are already attached..." Fuuta mutters, pulling their mug and tea leaves out of cabinet. They bite their lip. They haven't even thought about the other family wanting one of the kittens in the future. They didn't think it was a possibility seeing as they never showed themselves.

" _Then you better hurry and figure things out. Ask around and see if anyone else has a male cat. Sato-san next door likes to gossip, start with her._ "

Fuuta lets out their own sigh. "Alright."

They hear something creak on the other end. Maybe the sound of a door opening? " _Ah, sorry my lunch break's over, Fuuta, I have to go._ "

"It's fine; I don't think I have anything else to tell you."

" _I'll try to come back soon when things get less busy at work... Send me lot of pictures of our new babies, okay?_ "

"Oh don't worry, if I don't do it, the kids will swarm you with them. They've been talking about making a whole Instagram for them."

" _Hm, maybe I should rethink being against social media._ "

Fuuta snorts a bit as they pour their water in with their tea leaves. "I love you."

" _Love you too. Tell the kids I said 'Hi'._ "

"I will. Bye, Tsuna-nii. Don't work too hard, okay?"

" _I'm trying. I'll talk to you later, bye-bye._ "

Tsuna hangs up and Fuuta sets their phone down on the counter. Lambo pokes his head in the kitchen. "So we get to keep them?"

"We have to figure out who's been leaving all those supplies before we can say for sure. Do you want to do some recon for me?"

"Anything for the children, sir." Lambo stands at attention and salutes them.

"You like to gossip, right? Go ask around and see if anyone on this street or the next owns a cat like Natsu's boyfriend."

Lambo's shoulders immediately slump. "Ugh, the old ladies on this street can go on and on about nothing. It'll take forever to figure it out." he whines.

"Then you better hop to it before it gets dark." Fuuta says, smiling as they bring their mug to their lips.

Lambo groans but heads for the door, doing his best to make a scene by stomping all the way there. He slips his sandals on and opens the door. Letting out one long groan over his shoulder in Fuuta's directions, he walks out, shutting the door behind him.

Walking towards the gate, Lambo looks around, trying to see if he can spot Natsu's boyfriend. They haven't seen him since he ran off over the fence. Placing his hands on the gate, he pauses, turning to the right towards the house next door.

Since before he came to live here - even before he was born, actually - that house has been empty. It had been the house of an old family friend, he remembers Tsuna mentioning in the past. They still own it, apparently, but they haven't used it for years and don't rent it out. The place has been empty for a long time.

' _Well, that's one house to cross off the list._ ' Lambo thinks turning back to unlatch the gate and start his work schmoozing with the grannies of the street.

He moves just in time to miss the very cat he was looking for peek out the second story window, pawing at the glass in a feeble attempt to break free.


End file.
